Candy Salmon Dehydrator Change

[treblig]

I have been using this old plastic dehydrator for 20 years . Always having to rotate , change self levels and re arranging the salmon as they dry uneven. I finally bit the bullet and moved over to a large commercial unit especially when it went 20% off. It has 360 degree air movement and the temperature is even from top to bottom and front to back. I will never run out of shelves as the 24 level total 160 liter volume will allow me to do huge volumes.


Here is my candy salmon article:

Whats the next best thing to do when you can't fish cause of weather with all the fish stored in the freezer. YUP it's that time to make candy.

What defines Indian Candy salmon to me? At most time the ones selling Indian candy salmon is really a smoked fish that's been soaked in sweet/salty brine. As usual the smoking process produces a product that is moist, colorful, full of flavor but I still considered a smoke fish even though they call it candy. Candy salmon to me is hard, dry, tougher than jerky, thicker than jerky and full of flavor.

First thing in creating Indian Candy salmon is the drying process. Lots of failure attempts. It turned out you need to have allot of air moving like a convection oven but at a low temperature 90-110 degrees with multiple layers for volume in a dehydrator. Convection oven could only do little batches. It turned out a 12-14-tray dehydrator with thermostat control was perfect. I also wanted to penetrate 100% the salmon and that doesn't often happen when doing large volumes. By creating a vacuum bag it forces the candy brine through the full depth of the salmon slices. The photo displays two ten-pound bags of salmon in a vacuum bag soaking in the brine. One of the biggest mistakes is to pour all the brine over the cut salmon hoping it will penetrate. It won't, as all the pieces will adhere to each other. What I find efficient is to put all the salmon in large steel bowl and pour the brine over them and hand mixes all the pieces till all parts are wet. Once wet they will not stick together and the brine will want to travel through out the bag due to the vacuum. I flip the bags over every 12 hours. I normally let the salmon sit in the bags for 2 days but this time I left it for 3 days. WOW! What flavor.

Recipe for about 7 pounds: Never hurts to make lots of extra brine.
1 cup of light soy sauce (light soy is the saltiest)
1 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of granulated sugar (if not used increase the maple syrup another 1/4 cup)
1 tablespoon of sesame oil
Lots of garlic powder
2 teaspoons of lemon pepper (always add extra)
1/4-cup maple syrup

After the brine time drain the fish and place on racks to dry up a little. I generally allow them to dry minimum for a hour . Spray the trays of the dehydrator with a non-stick and place the salmon tight but without the pieces touching each other. Set dehydrator for 110 degrees for the first 24 hours and then drop to 90 degrees the second 24 hours. They should be hard by then and full of flavor.

Salmon pieces drying on a rack for an hour after being removed from the brine creates a glaze on the salmon. The first 24 hours I started with ten racks filled tight the salmon pieces nearly touching each other. This morning it is now reduce to 7 racks. The next 24 hours will be even more. You loose about 1/3 of the volume when you dehydrate them to the candy level. True candy salmon to me will be hard and full of flavor you want to juice up and keep chewing without swallowing the salmon and enjoying the juices (hard to do).

Very simple, Very easy to do, Very addicting. I have used this process also on brown trout and steelhead with amazing results.

 

[TheBigGuy]

Thanks for the awesome tutorial. Just a question, not a critism. Do you not like the smoked flavor in your salmon, or is it that you don't own a smoker and prefer to use a dehydrator. If you find a heavy smoke flavor unappealing, you could just smoke for an hour and then use the dehydrator until it has the texture you like. I'm not second guessing the way you personally like your Salmon, but if you're sharing it with company I think most others enjoy the smoke flavor. Liquid smoke is also an easy way to add smoke flavoring to a small portion of your salmon for guests.

I'm not trying to find fault with the way you like your Salmon, I'm just curious, as most others enjoy the added smoke flavoring, and traditionally Indian Candy is a smoked product.

Glad to see you're enjoying your new improved dehydrator, and I hope you get many years of service out of it. Dehydrators are great, but I usually only use them to make Salmon Jerky after a brief time in the smoker.

Thank you for sharing your method. Perhaps consider adding your tutorial to the recipes section, as that is where most people look for cooking and smoking info.

 

[treblig]

I have smoked fish for 18 years . I love the taste. I believe there is a difference between what is called smoked candy and dehydrated candy salmon . Smoked the finished product salmon would have moister in it and of course the various flavours of the different woods used. My candy is dry and full of hidden flavours that are from the brine . It will melt in one mouth slowly and the juices seem never to end. Any ways it all to one taste.